Congressmen back scaled-down farm billLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas’ four Republican congressmen have voted for a scaled-down farm bill that doesn’t address funding for food stamps. U.S. Reps. Tom Cotton of Dardanelle, Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin and Steve Womack on Thursday voted for the legislation, which dropped a food stamp section included in an earlier version of the farm bill that failed before the House last month. Republicans said the food stamp part of the legislation would...

VA grants to assist homeless veterans LITTLE ROCK (AP) — US Secretary of Veterans Eric Shinseki has announced $1.3 million in federal grants to help homeless military veterans at two organizations in Arkansas. The St. Francis House in Little Rock will receive about $600,000 while Seven Hills Homeless Center in Fayetteville is to receive the remainder of the grant as part of the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. The grants are among 319 awarded to agencies in all 50...

Rural fire department gets $468K grant DRIGGS (AP) — A western Arkansas town has received a more than $468,000 federal grant to purchase portable and mobile radios for firefighters. U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Mark Pryor announced Thursday that the Driggs Fire Department in Logan County will receive the grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The funding is part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which aims to strengthen the nation’s ability to respond to fire...

Bush nudges GOP on immigration as lawmakers meet WASHINGTON (AP) — Divided on immigration, House Republicans bluntly challenged President Barack Obama’s willingness to secure the nation’s borders on Wednesday, and appeared unimpressed by George W. Bush’s advice to carry a “benevolent spirit” into a debate that includes a possible path to citizenship for millions. Emerging from a closed-door meeting, GOP leaders affirmed a step-by-step approach to immigration but offered neither specifics nor...

Fla. police officers entangled in sex scandal LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a widespread sex scandal involving nearly a dozen police officers in one Florida city after a civilian crime analyst detailed trysts with the men in police and fire stations, patrol cars, motels and even in a parking lot after a memorial service for a slain officer. Sue Eberle, 37, has told officials that she had consensual and sometimes coerced sex with the officers and a firefighter, and th...

Oil rises 3 percent on signs of rising US demand NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil has shot up $11 a barrel in two weeks on rising demand in the U.S. and political upheaval in the Middle East. Gas prices are about to follow. There’s another factor: Bottlenecks that had trapped increasing amounts of domestically produced oil in the middle of the country are loosening. As that oil reaches the coasts, it can command prices more in line with costlier imported crudes. An improving U.S. economy, hi...

Back to negotiations after student loan plan fails WASHINGTON (AP) — The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. Republicans and a few Democrats blocked a White House-backed proposal that would have restored 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans fo...

On tour, Giffords’ actions speak on gun control DOVER, N.H. (AP) — Thirty months after she was shot through the head, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords sits in a New Hampshire restaurant facing parents of children killed in the nation’s latest school shooting. They are here to talk political strategy, but Giffords doesn’t say much. She doesn’t have to. The 43-year-old Democrat has become the face of the fight for gun control — a woman now known as much for her actions as her w...

Dardanelle City Council deals with unkept propertiesDARDANELLE — If someone fails to maintain their residential property, they could find themselves in a little bit of trouble with the city of Dardanelle, according to a resolution passed during Monday night’s regular City Council meeting. According to Bill Smith, one of the city’s code enforcement officials, the city has had issues with residential properties that are not properly maintained. He said the resolution allows the city to contact sa...

Fire chief talks department statistics, needsRussellville firefighters put in 13,788 training hours during the first five months of the year. RFD Chief John Cochran spoke about his department during the City Council’s June 27 meeting. He said the department’s members averaged 50 hours of training each through May 31. These training hours were in various categories, including fire suppression, EMT/paramedic, vehicle extraction/rescue, rope rescue and hazardous materials. The department re...

Dover continues city employee insurance talksDOVER — The City Council discussed amending a resolution that would change city employee insurance at its regular meeting Tuesday. According to the proposed amendment, the new employee insurance system would cease to provide full family coverage for new city employees, but rather provide full individual coverage. It would also give all city employees the opportunity to opt out of the city insurance, should an individual have personal insurance...

US economy adds 195K jobs; unemployment 7.6 pct. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers are sending a message of confidence in the economy — hiring more workers, raising pay and making the job market appear strong enough for the Federal Reserve to slow its bond purchases as early as September. The economy gained a robust 195,000 jobs in June and many more in April and May than previously thought. The unemployment rate remained 7.6 percent in June because more people started looking for jobs — a he...

Obama’s toughest sell on Guantanamo: Senate Dems WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s hardest sell in his renewed push to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may be members of his own party — moderate Senate Democrats facing tough re-election bids next year in the strongly Republican South. Obama has stepped up the pressure to shutter the naval facility, driven in part by his revised counterterrorism strategy and the 4-month-old stain of the government force-feedin...

Furloughs begin for Defense Department civilians WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 650,000 civilian Defense Department workers will begin taking the first of their 11 unpaid days off next week, but the cut in salary they will see in the three months may pale compared to what officials worry could be larger scale layoffs next year. Roughly 85 percent of the department’s nearly 900,000 civilians around the world will be furloughed, according to the latest statistics provided by the Pentagon. But whi...

Same-sex ruling has employers tweaking benefits WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on same-sex marriage has private employers around the country scrambling to make sure their employee benefit plans comply with the law. The impact of the decision striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is clear in the 13 states and the District of Columbia where gay marriage is currently legal or soon will be: Same-sex married couples must be treated the same as other spo...

Shelter rebate program to accept applicationsNORTH LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management Shelter Rebate Program will begin accepting applications this month. To be eligible for the program, the agency says people have to have installed an above-ground safe room or in-ground shelter after Jan. 21, 1999. Applicants also must own their home at the time of their application. The Department of Emergency Management indicated it will reimburse people for some of the...

US touts democracy as Egyptian military takes over WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is turning to top officials to tout democracy, political transparency and peaceful protest for Egypt, a message that took on a hollow tone as the Egyptian military installed a new leader for the country and began rounding up its ousted president and his supporters. Tens of thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi marched in Cairo on Friday, and gunfire and stone-throwing marked clash...

US officials approach tumult in Egypt with caution WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and his national security team tread delicately Thursday in the aftermath of the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, urging the restive nation to quickly return authority to a democratically elected civilian government and avoid violence. The administration still declined to take sides in the volatile developments as Egypt’s military installed an interim government leader. Ahead of Washington’s...

GOP has tough choices on Voting Rights Act ATLANTA (AP) — When the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act last week, it handed Republicans tough questions with no easy answers over how, and where, to attract voters even GOP leaders say the party needs to stay nationally competitive. The decision caught Republicans between newfound state autonomy that conservatives covet and the law’s popularity among minority, young and poor voters who tend to align with Democrats. It’s those ...

What now? Q&A about latest snag in health care law WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing’s ever easy with President Barack Obama’s health care law. The latest hitch gives employers an additional year before they must offer medical coverage to their workers or pay a fine. What does the delay mean for workers? And struggling businesses? And is it a significant setback for a law already beset by court challenges, repeal votes and a rush of deadlines for making health insurance available to nearly all America...